While I’ll wait to hear (I welcome more info from my friends) and learn more, it seems the science is pretty well conclusive on this point: drinking more than a little mate, especially with the leaves soaking, is bad news.

With thanks for the tip to Tom, one of our best troublemaking commenters. ~ Waylon Lewis, ed.

Yerba Mate and Cancer

“Yerba mate has a reputation as a health drink and indeed, a Google search on yerba mate yields over 3 million websites, many of which tout the benefits of this drink. As well, yerba mate commonly is referred to as “the ancient drink of health and friendship” by those promote it….Regardless of the concerns raised by this research, yerba mate continues to be promoted as a health drink and researchers…”

Despite its healthy reputation, numerous research studies have linked regular drinking of yerba mate with increased risk of cancers of the mouth, head and neck, esophagus, bladder, larynx, kidney, and lung and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) (2-18). Yerba mate drinking is most consistently associated with esophageal cancer (4-6,8,9,13-16,19). Some studies suggest that it is the very hot temperature at which yerba mate is typically consumed that increases esophageal cancer risk, rather than yerba mate itself (13,15).

Other research supports that yerba mate naturally contains carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds, and this is the reason why the drink is linked with increased cancer risk (20-22). Two research programs that evaluate carcinogenic activity of hundreds of chemicals, mixtures, and natural substances are the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans and the US National Toxicology Program’s Report of Carcinogens. The information from these agencies places yerba mate in the category of having a moderate level of evidence of posing a cancer risk to humans (20).

For much more, click here. The study points out that drinking mate in tea bags, where the leaves are discarded after brief soaking, is far better less worse than drinking mate in the traditional matter, where the leaves are continually steeped.

45 Comments

f…k this study am lebanese and here we drink matti alot especially in my hometown some people have been drinking matti for more than 20 years and there is no single case of cancer in my hometown at all. guys matti can be beneficial to preventing cancer.

I found more information about the effect of yerba mate and cancer, but
some research has demonstrated that yerba mate is not the principal cause of tumoral, but the cause is the smoke, alcol associated with yerba mate.

First sorry for mistakes i'm french =)
I have jus read this article and i'm very surprise of these informations ,
I think maté to drink is not bad but have much benefics ,
I found this article (it's in french ) but it's also "science informations " about yerba maté . It's writen that maté is benefic to heal cancer , maté have a composent which healing cancer and maté is also able to prevent cancer
and another article which said the same things http://www.santelog.com/news/cancerologie/cancer-… http://www.passionsante.be/index.cfm?fuseaction=a…
I think that indiginous who drink , and healing them with this plant , knew everything and probably more about the medicine propriety of maté and if this plant give cancer , it was probably forbidden or not so people drinking this plant .
=)

Elephant isn't just a big web site.

We're community-driven. We're dedicated to sharing "the mindful life" beyond the core or choir, to all those who don't yet know they give a care. We focus on anything that's good for you, good for others, and good for our planet.